Cold Tires
Sep 10th, 2009 by Leo
It’s back to school season here in NY. And right on cue, the weather is lovely and gray in the mid 60’s. Fall riding isn’t like spring riding (with all the salt and dirt on the roads), and it’s nothing like winter riding, but it certainly has a couple of things to watch out for… The main thing I watch out for is cold tires.
Summer riding is about terrific lean angles, and for most of August I didn’t even have to think about warming up the tires. But riding near a city means even warmed-up tires get cold after a few blocks of stop and go. And cold tires can feel like driving over a wet banana. Now I don’t know if cold tires were the problem for this guy in the video – but it could have been… these low speed courses don’t do a whole lot for tire temperature.
How can you know if you have a cold tire problem? One way is, under emergency braking on many sporty bikes, the front tire grips enough to pop the rear off the ground. On cold tires, they tend to just lock up and slide way before there’s enough load on the front to lift the rear. Now I don’t recommend trying that intentionally – although it’s always good to find a place to practice hard braking… But if you find yourself sliding a tire without meaning to, chances are they’re cold.
So what can you do for cold tires? First, the obvious thing is to warm them up when there are no cars around: make an “s” leaning the bike side to side. Also, highway speeds and hard braking help warm up the tires too. Some folks like to come to a few hard stops at red lights…
Second, you can try lower tire pressures. Most bikes on the track run just 30 psi front and rear. The reason why manufacturers recommend higher psi’s on the street is because of bumps and potholes. With lower psi your tire can flex enough to hit the rim on a pothole. More air pressure makes the tire firmer protecting the rim, but also lessening traction. So street tire pressure is a matter of preference. I run 32 up front and 36 rear in the summer (3psi higher if I’ll be carrying a passenger), and a couple less during the winter. So you might want to experiment with that.
Third, regardless of whether you do the first two, you have to assume your tires are cold after several blocks of slower local riding. So just keep that in mind before throwing it into an open corner.
But that’s just me. Take it for what it’s worth. Do you do something different? Then go ahead and school me some in the comments! Cheers!
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